100 Theme Challenge
by Nina Natsu
Summary: This is a collection of oneshots revolving around Ryoma and Momoshiro. It's not neccessarily in chronological order, either. Warnings: Shonen-ai, genre changes depending on the oneshot. Mostly fluff.
1. Chapter 1

100 Theme Challenge

1: Introduction

Hello; it's me again. I'm back to writing more regularly, now that exams are almost here and I'm through the holiday season. Miss me?  
This is something that I've wanted to do for a while; it's a 100 theme challenge. It's actually meant for art, but I'm not as confident in my drawing abilities as my writing. Though maybe I'm wrong, and I'm actually bad at both... Hmm... Oh well. This will be fun. Onto the fluff.

100 Theme Challenge

2: Love

Ryoma had never really understood the word love. People used it in so many ways. They used it when refering to families, and friends, pets, and objects. How could one word cover so many different things?

Love of families, he supposed, was easy enough to understand. It was most likely the thing that made him able to tolerate his baka oyaji, even when he snuck dirty magazines into his morning paper at breakfast. It was possible that it was the feeling in his chest, when he discovered that once again, his mother was gone before he woke. Maybe even the feeling of graditude when his cousin, Nanako, would greet him in the morning, or when he got home from practice. That could be love.

Love between friends wasn't much different, he supposed. He thought of his crazy senpais at tennis practice; of Oishi-senpai's mothering and Eiji-senpai's constant clingyness. Tezuka-buchou could be considered a silent father figure, Ryoma mused, and laughed silently at the image this left in his mind. Yes, he thought, it was easy enough to see the slightly insane group as a second family. That could be love.

Loving pets was easy. Ryoma would always be greatful to have Karupin; his playful little himilayan would listen to him when no one else was there. She would even sleep in his bed at night. When lightening crashed outside his window and thunder rumbled, she would curl up next to his head and her heartbeat would eventually lull him into a troubled sleep. It was still sleep, though, and he was greatful. That could be love.

Loving objects is something that Ryoma rarely understood. When girls would squeal and exclaim that they absolutely _loved_ something that one of their friends had bought, he had always rolled his eyes at their stupidity. After all, what value did a simple shirt, or piece of jewelry hold in the long run? It didn't make sense. Now, if this object held some sentimental value to the person, perhaps he could understand a little attatchment. He would be a hypocrite if he didn't at least allow that, if the little cat figurine on his desk was anything to go by. he supposed that could be a form of love.

Ryoma looked away from his bedroom window, sighing as he listened to the pitter-patter of rain against glass. The teen leaned against the back of his chair, bringing both knees to his chest and hugging them there. Love was so complicated. How could anyone be expected to recognize it when it came their way? The small boy set his chin on his knees, eyes drifting over to the only photos in his possesion. There were two of them.

One showed all of his teammates and himself, at a forested location. He remembered Fuji-senpai taking the picture at a particularly memorable training trip to the mountains. The second was of only two people; Momo-senpai and himself. They had fallen asleep on the bus ride home from that very same training trip, and Fuji took advantage of the situation. In the picture Ryoma rested his head on Momo's shoulder, green locks of hair slipping into his face slightly. Momo's head leaned down to touch his own, mouth parted slightly in what Ryoma knew to be a slight snore.

It had always amazed Ryoma how easily he could fall asleep in Momo's presence. Sometimes he would lie awake for hours, tossing and turning before finally drifting off. Karupin's presence usually helped him sleep at night, but even then it took at least half an hour to get to sleep. Momo's presence was different than Karupin's, though. It had the same element of comfort, but there was something else... A sense of safety and contentment, and another thing he couldn't place.

Ryoma smiled slightly to himself; a real smile, instead of the smirks that he usually graced others with.

_That could be love... _

**End of Theme**

Well. That was fun.

I haven't really decided if I want to make this completely MomoRyo and do a series of connected oneshots, or if I want to do multiple Ryoma pairings, so... I guess we'll see. They'll all be shonen-ai, though, so RyoSaku fans turn away. You won't find that here.


	2. Light

100 Theme Challenge

3: Light

Very rarely was Echizen Ryoma up to watch the sunrise. His large windows which faced east were usually covered in his thick blue drapes. In fact he had chosen the drapes simply for the way that they seemed to soak up any form of light. He always slept best when it was dark. Although, those same drapes had made him late on more than one occasion... And the first-year had a suspicion that his teammates wouldn't buy his excuses for long.

The drapes wouldn't tell anyone glancing into the room why Ryoma was up at 4:00 am. They were firmly shut, as usual. The suspicious natures of his friends didn't answer the question, either. Yet there he was; bright eyed and fully dressed, seemingly ready to go somewhere. The next question, I suppose, would be where in the world could he be going at 4:00 am?

Ryoma looked into his full length mirror, tracing his figure for what must have been the hundredth time. He wore black jeans, which hugged his hips and accented the slightly femenine curves that he possessed. At the knees the pants flared a little bit, enough so that when he put on his black-and-white checkered slip-ons they would be slightly covered. He also wore a dark green t-shirt, which had a chibi-cat on it that he thought looked like Karupin (Therefor the shirt was his the moment he saw it, even if he didn't have any money on him and had to borrow some from Kikumaru-senpai). The shirt brought out the highlights in his hair and made his golden eyes seem to glow in comparison to all of the black and green.

Biting his lip, the teen turned first to the left, then the right, examining how the clothing looked when he moved. A sudden sound from his right made him jump, and he turned to see his phone lit up on his desk. The screen read "New Message" in black letters, and underneath that was a picture of Momo. His breath caught in his throat, and he hestitantly reached for his phone to read the message.

_Hey, I'm outside :)_

_Momo_

Ryoma blushed, slipping the phone into his pocket and stumbling to his mirror again. Nervously, he flicked his hair out of his eyes before deciding that he looked better with it closer to his eyes and re-arranging it again. Then he grabbed his wallet (also with a Karupin look-alike on it) and shoved it into his back pocket before quietly exiting his house, pausing only to slip his shoes on and grab a black slim fitting sweatshirt.

Outside, the sky was just beginning to brighten with predawn light. Ryoma hurried down the many steps with a slight bounce in his stride, not that he would tell anyone that. He had an image to maintain, after all. Not that that really meant anything when he had already swallowed his pride and dressed up a little for the occasion of a day out with Momo... I mean, it was their first real date since they had finally confessed. Not that Ryoma had any idea where they were going, or why he had to be out and about at 4:00 am... Momo was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs on his bike, with a bag strapped to the back.

"Hey, Echizen! Sorry about the bag, but it's kinda neccessary..." The second-year greeted, grinning sheepishly. Ryoma shrugged.

"Where are we going?" He asked instead. Momo gesstured to the handle bars of his bike and Ryoma hopped up onto them, blushing when his hand accidently landed on the older boy's. Said boy started to pedal away from the house.

"It's a secret." Was his only reply. Shrugging again, the younger boy simply looked around, trying to keep balanced so as not to cause any problems for the one steering. Before long the pair had reached a hill, towards the outskirts of the residential areas, and Momo pulled to a stop. He gesstured for Ryoma to hop off, then got off himself and grabbed the bag.

"What's that for?" Ryoma asked as Momo pulled a large fluffy blanket from said bag. The second-year spread the blanket on the wet grass and motioned for the younger to sit down.

"You'll see." Curious, Ryoma sat down on the blanket and watched as Momo pulled more items from the bag. Another blanket, this one being soft instead of fluffy, a smaller bag, and a camera. The second year brought his items over and sat next to the younger boy. Then he simply sat there for a minute, as if he was contemplating what his next course of action should be. Ryoma found it incredibly endearing.

"...So am I allowed to ask what we're doing now?" The smaller teen asked after a minute, pulling his knees to his chest and setting his chin on top of them. Momo looked at him and hesitated for a second before throwing the soft blanket around Ryoma's shoulders. It was huge, and seemed to swallow the small boy in a sea of indigo, not unlike the night sky that was slowly vanishing. The older boy turned to the smaller bag and pulled out two bentou, which Ryoma eyed curiously.

"I know you probably haven't eaten yet." Momo said in explanation, and offered one of the bentou to his smaller boyfriend. He took it, spreading out his legs in a more relaxed position. With a murmured "Itadakimasu" both boys started to eat.

After a few minutes Ryoma snuck a peek at his senpai, noticing that there was about a foot of distance between the two. He frowned, which caught Momo's attention.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "Is the food bad? 'Cause I'm not really that great of a cook, so I got my sisters to fix it for me, but that was last night, and-" Ryoma scooted closer to his boyfriend until his thigh was pressed up against the other boy's. Then he threw the blanket around his shoulders as well. "...Echizen?" The younger cuddled into Momo's side a bit, and picked up his chopsticks again.

"That's better." Momo blushed, staring down at the mop of green hair that was right up against the side of his chest. His own bentou forgotten, the second-year moved his hand so that it rested on the other side of his boyfriend, so that essentially the smaller boy was encased by his arm. Looking out to the city, Momo noticed that the sun was just peeking into the sky.

"Echizen, look." He said softly. Ryoma looked up and became entranced. Even with just a sliver of the sun showing, the clouds which hung lazily over the city were dyed a soft orange. The colors faded and twisted into vibrant pinks and purples the further they got from the east. It was breath-taking._ So that's why he brought me out here..._ Ryoma thought. _He wanted to watch the sunrise... _The first-year glanced up at his boyfriend, and his breath caught once again watching the light play against the older boy's profile.

Before he knew what he was doing,Ryoma leaned up and pressed his lips to the older's cheek, right where a streak of pink was left by the sun. Momo started and turned to follow him when he pulled away.

"...Echizen?" Ryoma smiled softly before cuddling back into his senpai's side, laying his head above the other's heartbeat. Momo smiled as well, turning back to watch the light creep over the city. Both knew that, while they were probably crazy for being up so early, and it was slightly cold on the dew-covered ground, they were perfectly content to watch the light spread to mark the beginning of more than one thing.

**End of Theme**

So, there's the third theme. Though, I'm not quite sure if the first one should count or not... Oh well. Hope you like it. Possibly enough to leave a review..? *Hint hint, nudge nudge.


	3. Dark

100 Theme Challenge

4: Dark

Ryoma knew that he probably shouldn't be out this late. It was almost midnight after all, and it was dark out. Who knew what kind of creeps were out at this time of night? It's not like Ryoma was exactly _big_, either. It's not that he didn't think he could handle himself; it was just that other people might think that he was easy prey. Not to mention that he'd been mistaken for a girl before. Weren't girls usually the targets of assault at night? Either way, he probably shouldn't be out wandering the streets right now. Especially by himself.

It's not like he had much choice in the matter, though. Where else could he go? His parents had been fighting again, this time about how Nanjirou was such a bad influence on their son, and well at least he was home often enough to _be_ an influence on their son, and where was she going for her next business trip? China?

The entire thing was just exhausting in Ryoma's opinion. So, like he usually does in such a situation, he slipped out his window and disappeared into the night. That had been about an hour ago, though, and he probably _should_ be getting back... But it was such a nice night. The moon was just a sliver away from being full, and it shone down on the city as if watching over it. The stars paled a little from said city's lights, but Ryoma found it admirable that they still tried to poke through and make themselves known against such a vast blanket of darkness.

A noise from his left startled Ryoma from his thoughts and he turned to face the alleyway there. The buildings around it were tall, casating the entire space into shadow. He must have wandered farther into the business district than he thought if the buildings were anything to judge by. The noise sounded again, an odd sort of clanking sound. Ryoma tensed, fear beginning to settle into his stomach like an icy rock. How many horror films had progressed this way? Didn't the creepy figures and the horrified screams usually follow?

_Meow_.

Ryoma blinked, watching as a small grey tabby cat stepped out of the shadows. By it's paw was a tin can with the label half faded and worn; the source of the noise. Ryoma sighed, half in relief and half in exasperation. He crouched down, holding his hand out to the cat.

"You really scared me, you know? You shouldn't make noises like that at this time of night!" Ryoma scolded half-heartedly as the cat nudged it's head into his palm. He scratched it behind the ears, fighting to keep the scowl on his face when it purred. The cat looked up at him with it's big yellow eyes, blinking as if in confusion. Worriedly, the teen noted that the cat was actually quite skinny. Running his hand down the cat's side, a frown came to his face when he could feel each of it's ribs. "That's not healthy, kitty. I wonder if I could take you home..." He thought of how his parents would react when they woke up to find a half-starved tabby in the house, and snorted. _Kaa-san would probably shriek about filthy animals and order me to give it a bath_. He thought in amusement. "What do you think, kitty? Want to come home with me?" The cat looked up at him a mewed cutely, which Ryoma took as a yes, so he scooped her into his arms and stood. "I think I'll call you... Kasumi." The teen decided, turning in the direction of his house.

Snickering stopped him in his tracks and Ryoma's head whipped to look into the alley. He could just barely make out the figures of three men emerging from the shadows.

"Aww, look at the cute little kitten!" The one in the front cooed, stepping forward out of the shadows. He had unkempt blonde hair, which was swept back and held there with a black bandana. uneven stubble coated his chin, and there was a cigarette in his hand. He blew a puff of it in Ryoma's direction, and the teen coughed, backing away a step. The other two stepped forward out of the darkness too, snickering yet again.

"Which one? The furry one or the one with green hair?" The guy to the left asked. He had crew-cut brown hair and non-descript brown eyes. He wore a sleeveless muscle shirt which aptly showed off muscles bigger than Kawamura-senpai's.

"I think the one with green hair would be softer." The last one commented. He had lank, greasy black hair which hung on either side of his face. He was also wearing a bandana, altough it was doing nothin to keep his hair back and it was dark blue. His leering brown eyes roved up and down Ryoma's body, making him shiver and clutch Kasumi tighter to his chest.

"Oh, definitely. He's much cuter." The brown-haired guy agreed. The blonde man, apparently the leader, took another long drag from his cigarette. Blowing it out, he smirked at Ryoma.

"What do you say, Kitten? Want to let us find out?" He asked. Ryoma stared wide-eyed at the men in front of him. In some part of his mind he realized that he should really get the hell out of there, but he couldn't move. He was frozen in fear. The trio advanced towards him, circling him until he was surrounded. The blonde reached out to touch a lock of hair that was next to Ryoma's face, and his touch snapped Ryoma back into his senses. He jerked his head away, hissing at the man. All three of them laughed.

"Whoa, careful, Katsuo. It looks like this kitten bites." The brown-haired man mocked. Katsuo, the blonde, nodded in agreement.

"Seems like it. But that's okay. I like it when they play hard to get." Ryoma glared at all three of them, looking for an escape route in the process. There was none; they had him completely surrounded. Suddenly, the brown-haired man grabbed him from behind in a hold reminiscent of a bear hug, making his arms useless. Ryoma struggled, trying to escape the hold, and all three men laughed again. Katsuo grabbed his chin, forcing him to look into his face. "What do you say, Kitten? This can be pleasurable for you too, you know. Why don't you rethink your original position?" Ryoma glared, spitting at his face. Katsuo jerked back with a cry of shock, and at the same time Kasumi bit down on the brown-haired man's arm. He yelped and dropped Ryoma, who sprinted in the direction of his house and away from the trio. With shouts of anger, they gave chase.

"Get back here, you little bitch!" The teen couldn't tell which one had yelled that, but he decided that he didn't really care as he turned a corner. The sound of footsteps and enraged yelling was getting closer behind him, so Ryoma picked up the pace and all-out sprinted. He knew that he was probably faster than the three stooges behind him, but they were much taller, and therefor had longer strides. Not only that, but they were _pissed_, and that added a bit to the speed factor as well. He pushed his legs to go faster and flew around the next corner, only to trip and stumble to the ground.

"Echizen?" A familiar voice cried, and Ryoma's eyes popped open in disbelief to look up into the face of his best friend, senpai, and secret crush; Momoshiro Takeshi. He looked equally shocked to see his kohai this late at night, sprinting like the devil was on his heels too. He hopped to his feet, noticing that his senpai was about to get into a car with what looked like his parents. Before he could say anything, though, the trio of enraged men appeared around the corner. The blonde wasted no time in grabbing Ryoma by his neck and slamming him against the wall.

"Thought you could give us the slip, huh?" He snarled, pressing harder until Ryoma was gasping for breath. "You'll pay for that you little bitch! I was going to try to make it pleasurable for you, but now I'm going to make sure that you wish you had never been born!"

"Hey! Get your hands off my kohai!" Momo shouted, and Ryoma vaugely registered the pounding of feet running in his direction.

"Shit, Katsuo, let's get out of here! It's not worth it!" The black-haired guy shouted, pulling on the brown-haired man's arm and already taking off in a run. The blonde snarled before dropping Ryoma.

"We'll be seeing eachother again." He hissed before taking off after his friends. Ryoma crumpled to the ground, gasping. Momo skidded to a stop next to his kohai and dropped to his knees.

"Holy shit, Echizen! Are you okay?" The second-year asked, frantically checking Ryoma for wounds and running his hand along where he could already see bruises on his neck. The younger boy coughed, sitting up with the help of his senpai.

"I'm fine... I think..." Kasumi, whom Ryoma had dropped when Katsuo grabbed him, nudged her head into his leg and mewed. Both teens looked down at the cat, which cocked it's head to the side as if asking 'Are you okay?'. Ryoma sighed exasperatedly, reaching down to scratch between the cat's ears. "_You _are more trouble than you're worth." The cat licked his palm and Ryoma smiled. Momo looked between the two.

"So... this was all over a cat?" He asked incredulously, leaning back to sit on his heels.

"No. The creeps showed up out of nowhere, when I was deciding whether or not to take the cat home. And her name is Kasumi." Momo shook his head as Kasumi jumped into Ryoma's lap and made herself comfortable. He stood, offering his hand and helping Ryoma to his feet as well. Together they made their way towards the rest of Momo's family, with Ryoma having to lean on Momo as the adrenaline left his system.

"Takeshi! What just happened?" The woman, whom Ryoma assumed to be Momo's mother, asked as they got closer.

"Kaa-san, this is Echizen Ryoma. He's a friend from the tennis team. And from what I've gathered, he was being attacked or something." At the woman's horrified gasp, Ryoma hurried to clarify.

"I just did something to piss them off. It's not really a big deal, I'm fine now, thanks to Momo-senpai." The last little bit was said a little quieter, mostly to himself, and Ryoma blushed slightly at the implication of his words.

"Echizen, that was definitely a 'big deal'. Jeez, do you have any idea what they were implying?" Momo demanded, wrapping the arm that was supporting him tighter around his shoulders. Ryoma's blush deepened. "Yeah, but you were here, so I'm fine." The younger boy retorted. Momo sighed, exasperated.

"Well," Momo's mom started, "pleased to meet you Echizen-kun, although I wish it could've been in better circumstances. My name is Momoshiro Makoto, and this is my husband, Momoshiro Riku." The man at her side nodded in his direction, and Ryoma returned the gessture.

"Pleased to meet you."

"Yes, well, why don't we all get in the car? You can come over to our house if you would like, or we could drop you off at home..?" Makoto trailed off, looking expectantly at the younger boy. The thought of going home to deal with his fighting parents wasn't very appealing to Ryoma.

"Um... I don't really want to be a bother, but..." Momo glanced down at his kohai, noting the almost embarrassed look on his face.

"He'll come over for a while." Momo stated, leading the younger teen to the car. Makoto nodded, noticing the exchange between the two. Her trained 'mother's eye' caught the protective way that her son wrapped an arm around his 'friend' as well. They all climbed into the car. The drive to Momo's house was silent, and he never took his arm away from his friend's shoulders.

When they arrived, there was an older girl there, although she didn't look like she was related to the Momoshiros. That mystery was solved as it became apparent that she had been baby-sitting Momo's little sisters. Momo led Ryoma up to his room, where both sat on his bed.

"So," Momo said, breaking the silence, "what were you doing out so late?" Ryoma tensed slightly, which didn't escape the older boy's notice.

"I just... needed to get out of the house for a little while." He answered, avoiding his senpai's gaze.

"And why would you need to get out of the house at this time of night?" Momo insisted. Silence was his answer. Sighing, Momo moved to kneel on the floor in front of the much smaller teen. "You know that you can tell me anything, Echizen. What's wrong?" Ryoma searched Momo's eyes for a minute, finding nothing but sincerity, concern, and... something else that he couldn't quite place.

"...It was just my parents. They were... fighting again. More like arguing, actually." Ryoma looked away from Momo's eyes, out the window. "It just gets so tiring, you know? Listening to them fight like I'm not there. It always starts with something stupid, too. It makes me wonder who the adult in the house is. Usually the fights are during the day, so they don't notice when I sneak out, but... I just couldn't stay there. I didn't know something like... _that_ was going to happen. I didn't even mean to leave the residential district." Momo's eyes softened as he watched emotions flicker across his kohai's face, and they didn't miss the shiver that tore through Ryoma's body when he said _'that'. _Momo stood up and, without a word, left the room. Ryoma watched him go in confusion, and couldn't stop the slight feeling of hurt that bloomed in his chest at the action. Had he done something wrong? Why did Momo just leave like that?

He was still contemplating those things when Momo returned, shutting the door softly behind him. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the return of the older boy. _What if I did something to upset him? _Ryoma worried, biting his lip. _What if he thinks I'm just an irresponsible little brat now, because I can't stand a little argument between my parents? Oh, god, he must think I'm such a baby... _Tears pooled in Ryoma's eyes. _I'm such an idiot. I almost got myself raped because I couldn't just stay put!_ The tears trickled over, and Ryoma brought a hand to his mouth, covering it in a vain hope of muffling any noise that might escape.

Momo watched from near his door in shock as Ryoma started crying. _Oh, god, what happened? _He worried, hurrying to his kohai's side.

"Echizen?" He asked, sitting next to him and putting an arm around his shoulders. Ryoma jumped a little, turning to look at Momo with wide, devasated eyes. The tears made his golden eyes glisten, as if it were really molten gold swirling around in his iris. Without another word, Momo brought the boy fully into his arms, letting him rest against his chest. A strangled sob escaped from the younger boy, and he gripped Momo's shirt tightly. The older boy scooted back until he was resting against the headboard, ending up sitting cross-legged with Ryoma in his lap. "It's alright, Echizen..." Momo murmurmed, running his fingers through the younger boy's dark green hair. "I'm here. They can't get you. I won't let them." Another sob escaped Ryoma and he pressed himself closer to Momo. The unspoken message got through, though. _I know_. Or, as Momo might translate it, _Protect me_. He damn well planned to.

End of Theme

Whoa. That's a long one. I did it all in one sitting, too. Imagine that. I guess this is to make up for the shortness of the first two. I usually aim for 1,000 words or more in a chapter or oneshot. This one's over 2,000. ^.^; That's a good thing, right?


End file.
